Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
“Big” John McCarthy wasn’t amused by Brendan Fitzgerald’s recent slip-up at UFC Atlantic City this past weekend (March 30, 2024).
UFC went away from the comfort of its APEX Facility for the luxury of New Jersey’s Boardwalk Hall and featured a women’s Flyweight main event between top contenders, Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot. However, before that, there was a factual error noticed by the godfather of mixed martial arts (MMA) officiating.
UFC play-by-play commentator, Fitzgerald, stated at the event’s start that New Jersey was the first state to regulate MMA. This didn’t sit well with McCarthy, who clarified the history.
“Really? What a bunch of horses—t that line is,” McCarthy said in a video clip on Twitter. “How many times do you see people talking about commentary, and, ‘Hey, do your homework,’ and stuff like that? If you’re gonna put that out, you better make sure it’s right.
“No,” he continued. “There was quite a few states that regulated MMA, okay? The first state that regulated MMA, if you’re really gonna look at it, was Mississippi. Billy Lyons was the commissioner of Mississippi. He’s the first one that ever issued me a license as someone that worked for the state athletic commission, okay? How about Iowa, was another. New Jersey was done before the Fertittas were ever owners of the UFC.”
McCarthy, 61, retired from his in-cage referee work years ago, but has remained a fixture in the community as a representative and commentator for Bellator before it was acquired by Professional Fighters League (PFL) last year.
MMA Mania brings you Sound & Pound. An original podcast that features previews, recaps, lists, prospects, and a Q&A. Oh, and a cool movie club.
MMA Mania brings you Sound & Pound, an original podcast featuring previews, recaps, lists, prospects, and a Q&A. Oh, and a cool movie club. All brought to you by yours truly, Alex Behunin and Drake Riggs.
This week, we’ll recap UFC Atlantic City, preview UFC Vegas 90 and PFL San Antonio, and discuss everything in between. Watch it live at 3:00 P.M. EST every Tuesday or on replay in the player above on our YouTube channel.
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 90 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+“Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance (also on ESPN+)at 10 p.m. ET.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 90: “Allen vs. Curtis 2” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.
Fast-rising flyweight contender Manon Fiorot won her twelfth straight fight last weekend atop the UFC Atlantic City fight card, knocking around “Cold Blooded” Erin Blanchfield for the better part of five rounds on ESPN. As a result, “The Beast” was promoted in two categories in the latest UFC rankings update, rising two spots to No. 4 on the women’s pound-for-pound chart and one slot to No. 2 at 125 pounds.
That’s not all.
Joaquin Buckley debuted on the welterweight list thanks to his technical knockout victory over fading veteran Vicente Luque in the UFC Atlantic City co-main event. “New Mansa” is currently tied with longtime veteran Neil Magny at No. 11 on the 170-pound chart, sending “The Silent Assassin” down three spots to No. 14.
Here’s how UFC compiles its official rankings:
Rankings were generated by a voting panel made up of media members. The media members were asked to vote for who they feel are the top fighters in the UFC by weight-class and pound-for-pound. A fighter is only eligible to be voted on if they are in active status in the UFC. A fighter can appear in more than one weight division at a time. The champion and interim champion are considered to be in the top positions of their respective divisions and therefore are not eligible for voting by weight-class. However, the champions can be voted on for the pound-for-pound rankings.
Take a look at what the latest rankings field looks like courtesy of UFC.com. Note: (+/- = movement in rankings, T = tie, *NR = Not previously ranked).
MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Islam Makhachev 2. Jon Jones 3. Leon Edwards 4. Alex Pereira 5. Ilia Topuria 6. Sean O’Malley 7. Charles Oliveira 8. Alexander Volkanovski 9. Dricus Du Plessis 10. Alexandre Pantoja 11. Israel Adesanya 12. Tom Aspinall 13. Sean Strickland 14. Max Holloway 15. Aljamain Sterling
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Alexandre Pantoja
1. Brandon Royval 2. Brandon Moreno 3. Amir Albazi 4. Kai Kara France 5. Matheus Nicolau 6. Manel Kape 7. Muhammad Mokaev 8. Alex Perez 9. Tim Elliott 10. Steve Erceg 11. Matt Schnell 12. Tagir Ulanbekov 13. Tatsuro Taira 14. David Dvorak +1 15. Su Mudaerji -1
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Sean O’Malley
1. Merab Dvalishvili 2. Aljamain Sterling 3. Cory Sandhagen 4. Petr Yan 5. Marlon Vera 6. Henry Cejudo 7. Song Yadong 8. Deiveson Figueiredo 9. Rob Font 10. Umar Nurmagomedov 11. Kyler Phillips 12. Dominick Cruz 13. Mario Bautista 14. Jonathan Martinez 15. Pedro Munhoz
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Ilia Topuria
1. Alexander Volkanovski 2. Max Holloway 3. Brian Ortega 4. Yair Rodriguez 5. Movsar Evloev 6. Arnold Allen 7. Josh Emmett 8. Calvin Kattar 9. Giga Chikadze 10. Bryce Mitchell 11. Edson Barboza 12. Dan Ige 13. Sodiq Yusuff 14. Lerone Murphy 15. Alex Caceres
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Islam Makhachev
1. Charles Oliveira 2. Justin Gaethje 3. Dustin Poirier 4. Arman Tsarukyan 5. Mateusz Gamrot 6. Michael Chandler 7. Beneil Dariush 8. Rafael Fiziev 9. Dan Hooker 10. Jalin Turner 11. Benoit Saint-Denis 12. Rafael dos Anjos 13. Renato Moicano 14. Bobby Green 15. Drew Dober
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Leon Edwards
1. Kamaru Usman 2. Belal Muhammed 3. Shavkat Rakhmonov 4. Colby Covington 5. Jack Della Maddalena 6. Gilbert Burns 7. Ian Machado Garry 8. Sean Brady 9. Stephen Thompson 10. Geoff Neal 11. (T) Neil Magny +1 11. (T) Joaquin Buckley *NR 13. Michael Page 14. Vicente Luque -3 15. Kevin Holland -1
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Dricus Du Plessis
1. Sean Strickland 2. Israel Adesanya 3. Robert Whittaker 4. Jared Cannonier 5. Marvin Vettori 6. Paulo Costa 7. Brendan Allen 8. Nassourdine Imavov 9. (T) Roman Dolidze 9. (T) Jack Hermansson 11. Khamzat Chimaev 12. Anthony Hernandez 13. Paul Craig 14. Chris Curtis 15. Caio Borralho
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Alex Pereira
1. Jamahal Hill 2. Jiri Prochazka 3. Magomed Ankalaev 4. Jan Blachowicz 5. Aleksandar Rakic 6. Nikita Krylov 7. Johnny Walker 8. Khalil Rountree 9. Volkan Oezdemir 10. Anthony Smith 11. Ryan Spann 12. Alonzo Menifield 13. Azamat Murzakanov 14. Dominick Reyes 15. Dustin Jacoby
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jon Jones
1. Tom Aspinall 2. Ciryl Gane 3. Sergei Pavlovich 4. Stipe Miocic 5. Curtis Blaydes 6. Alexander Volkov 7. Jailton Almeida 8. Marcin Tybura 9. Serghei Spivac 10. Tai Tuivasa 11. Jairzinho Rozenstruik 12. Derrick Lewis 13. Alexandr Romanov 14. Marcos Rogerio De Lima 15. Rodrigo Nascimento
1. Julianna Pena 2. (T) Mayra Bueno Silva 2. (T) Ketlen Vieira 4. Irene Aldana 5. Holly Holm 6. Macy Chiasson 7. Miesha Tate 8. Karol Rosa 9. Pannie Kianzad 10. Yana Santos 11. Norma Dumont 12. Julia Avila 13. Chelsea Chandler 14. Josiane Nunes 15. Melissa Dixon
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the middleweight division, following the UFC Vegas 90: “Allen vs. Curtis 2” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on ESPN+, scheduled for this Sat. night (April 6, 2024) at APEX in Las Vegas.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.
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Joaquin Buckley scored the biggest win of his professional career over the weekend (Sat. March 30, 2024) in the co-main event of UFC Atlantic city, stopping Vicente Luque in the second round via strikes.
The fight was quite competitive to start. In the first round, Buckley found some success with his combination striking and pressure. Luque also had his moments, however, landing some heavy kicks and briefly gaining top position with a takedown. All well and good, but things got a bit odd in the second.
Buckley landed a few solid punches to start the round, and he met Luque’s double leg attempt with strong hips. The Brazilian veteran reacted by pulling guard, and when Buckley started punching, “The Silent Assassin” shelled up until the referee intervened. For a many who has gone to war with the likes of Mike Perry and Stephen Thompson without taking a step back, it was a strange sight to see (watch here).
Buckley thinks the explanation is that Luque didn’t want to be in the cage with him.
“I feel like Vicente just quit in there — point blank, period,” Buckley said on The MMA Hour (via MMAFighting). “He quit. He didn’t want to be in there in the first place. Before the fight started, he didn’t want to be in there. When you’re a fighter, you can just sense those things. It’s hard to explain. You’ve got to get in there and find out.
“I knew it the moment I saw him. The moment I saw him at weigh-ins, I knew it.”
In Luque’s defense, he’s just two fights removed from suffering a knockout loss that resulted in a brain hemorrhage. He managed to pretty safely wrestle Rafael dos Anjos in his return to action last year, but it’s understandable if the punches of a powerful hitter like Buckley shook his confidence.
The question is can Luque come back from this? Luque’s best wins have come from surging forward in the chaos, and if he’s not able to keep his confidence in bad spots anymore, he’s not likely to win many fights.
As for Buckley, he’s rising quickly up the Welterweight ranks, and he has an idea for his next opponent: Gilbert Burns. Ideally, he’d love that fight as the main event of UFC St. Louis, which is currently scheduled to be headlined by another uninspired Heavyweight contest.
“I actually love the idea of Gilbert Burns,” Buckley said. “Right now we’re 3-1 against that team. The first guy that beat me from that team was Logan Storley back in Bellator. He held me down for 15 [minutes]. After that I knocked out Impa Kasanganay, Andre Fialho, and now their boy Vicente. So now I’m 3-1 with them.”
Dustin Poirier would appear to have a fight booked …
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A post shared by Dustin Poirier (@dustinpoirier)
Manon Fiorot became a top contender by throwing a 1-2-3 and NOT headlock throwing her opposition. Fundamentals!
Fiorot solved WMMA by immediately switching to the whizzer instead of trying the head and arm throw. pic.twitter.com/Deqh9RIBBR
— Miguel Class (@MigClass) March 29, 2024
This is a very funny concept for a game.
Payton Talbott playing guess who
Talbott: “would your fighter be good in bed or average?” Lady: “I’d day good probably” Talbott – “okay” immediately crosses Islam Makhachev off the list
pic.twitter.com/Fpvgzmnt38
— Remy Mac (@RemyMacDa3rd) March 30, 2024
Nah bruh the best bit about that video was the “would you trust this fighter with your girlfriends drink at a bar” and he says yes so she crosses out jon jones
— har7 (@Klyrinn) March 30, 2024
It’s been a while since we’ve seen some Sean Strickland sparring footage.
| Former UFC middleweight champ Sean Strickland spars featherweight MMA fighter Jair Perez at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.
Instagram via jairperezmma#UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/DUJden6v5p
— Parry Punch (@ParryPunchNews) March 30, 2024
Look, I’m as anti-biting as anyone else, but this feels a bit over-the-top.
Igor is having to fly his parents to the city he now trains and live at, Bauru, Sao Paulo, because they’re receiving death threats. People have showed up at his parents doorsteps. He has hundreds of hate messages on his social media, including death threats. This is absurd. https://t.co/kmPUHOVKPY
— Matheus Aquino (@MatheusDCAquino) March 31, 2024
Who is the true face of the UFC Apex?
pic.twitter.com/veHfsuAbHS
— King Bobby (@JustinHerronUFC) April 1, 2024
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Jorge Masvidal went from being hugely underrated for most of his career, to annoyingly overrated, and now back to underrated as people think he was an overhyped bum. “Gamebred” was a killer for well over a decade!
Jorge Masvidal KO2 Yves Edwards (Head Kick and Punches)
— Forgotten Finishes (@FightsForgotten) March 28, 2024
Elbows are a great way to interrupt a combo!
What a disgusting elbow by Shakhriyor Juraev #ONEFridayFights57 pic.twitter.com/qeWazxeVPq
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) March 29, 2024
Calf kick to hammerfist is an unusually combo for a knockout.
OOOOOH! Calf-kick leads to a vicious KO!!!! #LFA180 pic.twitter.com/QGNMMuXmE7
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) March 30, 2024
Random Land
High quality footage of a bear fight:
Wild fight between two huge brown bears in 4K
Brown bears, usually solitary by nature, are driven to fight each other mainly due to competition for resources, particularly during periods of scarcity.pic.twitter.com/WTeZ3wS7oF
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) March 30, 2024
Midnight Music: Soul, 1963
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.
Phil “CM Punk” Brooks’ Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) stint will always be remembered … for the wrong reasons.
The former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) champion entered mixed martial arts (MMA) and UFC as a complete novice in late 2014. Brooks eventually debuted opposite Mickey Gall in a Welterweight match up at UFC 203 in September 2016. Unfortunately for “The Voice of the Voiceless,” he lost just over two minutes when Gall sunk in a rear-naked choke.
Punk followed up his debut with another tough outing against Mike Jackson in his hometown of Chicago, Ill., at UFC 225 two years later. At the time, Brooks was embroiled in a legal battle with a fellow professional wrestler, Scott “Colt Cabana” Colton, which made the occasion all the tougher. Jackson defeated Brooks via a unanimous decision before the result was later overturned to a no contest when Jackson tested positive for marijuana.
“I asked my wife the other day because I said something, I was just like, ‘What was I, 35 when I fought?’” Brooks said on The MMA Hour. “And she was just like, ‘Oh no, you were 36 or 37.’ I just went, ‘What the f—k was I thinking?’
“I’m glad I did it,” he continued, speaking about his Jackson fight. “Zero regrets. I shouldn’t have fought in Chicago, because of the worst two weeks of my life. Easily the worst two weeks of my life. I couldn’t cut weight properly. I still made weight. I’m proud of myself for that. I’m an ambitious guy.”
Now that he’s back in professional wrestling and WWE, Brooks believes everything came around nicely. Hate him all you want, the ambition counts for something in Punk’s book.
“I get it, it’s easy to ‘LOL’ and make fun of me,” Brooks said. “Some people look at that and be like, ‘That’s embarrassing.’
“I f—king made the weight. I made the walk,” he concluded. “I am 100 percent proud of myself, and I would do it again, because that was me at my absolute worst, and I did it. You want to call me a loser, that’s cool, but I was stoked I got that opportunity, and I was stoked I did it.”
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman poked his way back into the win column last weekend in Atlantic City, jabbing and stabbing Brazilian blindman Bruno Silva with a series of flying fingers. Referee Gary Copeland brought a halt to the foul-friendly action in the third and final frame and “All American” was later awarded a technical decision victory.
So why wasn’t the bout ruled a no contest, like this cage-clearing calamity?
“When Gary Copeland has Chris Weidman, who is putting his fingers out like it’s a pitchfork — you need to address that as the official,” McCarthy told co-host Josh Thomson on their “Weighing In” podcast (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “I don’t care that you’re in New Jersey where Chris Weidman is a hero. I’m being honest: I wanted Chris Weidman to win this fight. … But I can’t have Chris Weidman getting preferential treatment as far as you’re the one creating this problem. You need to address the problem and make sure the individual who is creating the problem doesn’t do it anymore. Well, he did do it more.”
“I don’t think Gary saw the eye pokes (just before the finish), so that was understandable,” McCarthy continued. “He makes the call of stopping the fight. Once he makes the call of stopping the fight and they look at the tape, you can see that he did get poked in the eye. … They need to have the judges score whatever part of the third round they’ve seen. Who won that round? You already have two rounds that have been judged. This need(ed) to go to a technical decision. It’s not a unanimous decision victory. It’s a technical decision victory for Chris Weidman.”
Weidman suggests Silva may have been “looking for a way out” by executing a Ric Flair flop every time he “felt something touching his eyeball.” The bout was originally ruled a technical knockout victory for Weidman but later changed to a technical decision.
“Chris had won the first two rounds,” McCarthy said. “And if you’re gonna say the third round, I think Chris was winning that one for the most part, too. So I knew Chris was gonna win the fight, but that way it’s not on the fact that a foul occurred and the referee made a decision to stop it without seeing the foul. Now (the commission is) saying, ‘Okay, we see the foul. This is what we do.’ Based upon the fact that the fight had entered the third round, you could go to a technical decision. If the same thing had happened in the second round, it would’ve ended up being a no contest. You would not have had a technical decision, because they can only go to that technical decision if the fight enters the third round.”
McCarthy expects Silva to be unsuccessful in his post-fight appeal.
“What they’re doing is, by going to that technical decision, it’s the right thing to do. I’m just gonna tell you straight out,” McCarthy said. “Because giving Chris Weidman a victory off of TKO, then you’re saying that you’re not addressing the fact that there was a foul. They are addressing that fact. Gary Copeland could’ve decided to have taken points for the fouls. He didn’t do that. That’s his decision. … So the commission actually did the right thing. But, yes, by doing that right thing, they’re taking the ability of Bruno Silva to protest the stopping of the fight as a TKO and making it a no contest later on. They’re taking that away by doing the right thing.”
For more UFC Atlantic City news and post-fight results click here and here.
With Marvin Vettori injured and unable to answer the call of middleweight rival Brendan Allen, 185-pound “Action Man” Chris Curtis will step up on short notice to rematch “All In” for this weekend’s return to APEX in Las Vegas!
Event: UFC Vegas 90: “Allen vs. Curtis 2” Date: Sat., April 6, 2024 Location: UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada Broadcast: ESPN+ Start Time: 3 p.m. ET Preliminary Card | 6 p.m. ET Main Card
UFC Vegas 90 Main Event On ESPN+:
185 lbs.: Brendan Allen vs. Chris Curtis
UFC Vegas 90 Main Card on ESPN+ (6 p.m. ET):
145 lbs.: Alexander Hernandez vs. Damon Jackson 145 lbs.: Morgan Charriere vs. Chepe Mariscal 155 lbs.: Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Christos Giagos 265 lbs.: Valter Walker vs. Lukasz Brzeski 155 lbs.: Trevor Peek vs. Charlie Campbell
UFC Vegas 90 ‘Prelims’ Card on ESPN+ (3 p.m. ET):
170 lbs.: Court McGee vs. Alex Morono 135 lbs.: Norma Dumont vs. Germaine de Randamie 135 lbs.: Alatengheili Alateng vs. Victor Hugo 115 lbs.: Piera Rodriguez vs. Cynthia Calvillo 135 lbs.: Dan Argueta vs. Jean Matsumoto 185 lbs.: Dylan Budka vs. Cesar Almeida
*Fight card, bout order and number of fights remain subject to change.*
The UFC uses poorly designed gloves that do nothing to stop eyepokes from happening. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Another week, another eye poke controversy at a UFC event.
At this point, accidental eye pokes during fights are just a part of the sport. No matter how many times one fighter might stick his fingers into the eyes of another fighter, we deem it unintentional and rarely even take a point over the matter.
UFC Atlantic City featured a fight between Chris Weidman and Bruno Silva that featured several unpunished eye pokes, including two in the finishing stanza that led to a Weidman win. Nothing can be done about it, right?
Wrong.
Too bad UFC don’t want to change those shit gloves.
— Justin Gaethje (@Justin_Gaethje) March 31, 2024
Fellow UFC fighter and UFC 300 co-main participant Justin Gaethje has just weighed in on the New Jersey situation with a subtle reminder that the promotion is semi-responsible for all the eye pokes in their fights.
“Too bad UFC don’t want to change those s— gloves,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
That’s right: fighters are well aware that the official UFC gloves are at fault for a lot of eye pokes. The stiff leather pulls your hand open, leaving fingers outstretched which is a key issue when it comes to accidental eye injuries. We’ve known this for years.
Gaethje is especially aware of this because his coach Trevor Wittman developed his own MMA glove called the ONX glove which curves the hand so it’s nearly impossible for your fingers to be in the outstretched position.
Got some work in with @Eric_XCMMA today and took my new ONX gloves for a spin. Thank you @Justin_Gaethje !! You were right! Wasn’t sure I’d like the 12oz but they feel so good and my wrists felt strong 10/10 would recommend pic.twitter.com/qFYU5y5ZKK
— Laura Sanko (@laura_sanko) August 21, 2021
According to Joe Rogan, the UFC has looked at the glove and were interested in using them but decided not to because Wittman wouldn’t sell them the design outright.
So next time you see a fight ruining eye poke, remember that the UFC is well aware their gloves are poorly designed and cause eye pokes. Know that there are better gloves out there that would prevent eye pokes. And understand that it is a choice by the promotion to not use them.
Silva feels like the referee and commission sided unfairly with Weidman after a series of eyepokes led to his defeat in their New Jersey showdown.
Bruno Silva is looking to have the outcome of his fight against Chris Weidman changed … again.
Weidman was initially awarded a third round TKO victory over Silva in their UFC Atlantic City showdown. But when officials reviewed the finishing flurry, it was hard to ignore two (count em, two!) eye pokes that Weidman delivered, leading to Silva’s collapse onto the canvas.
So the result was changed: the fight was sent to the scorecards, with Weidman winning a 30-27×3 unanimous technical decision.
Still not okay according to Bruno Silva, who says he’ll be filing an appeal with the New Jersey commission.
I Was rewatching Chris Weidman’s win, and it wasn’t just an eye poke, it was two Clear eye pokes, making a total of 4 CLEAR eye pokes in 1 round that bruno Silva informed the ref about, no points deducted ofc, because uk it’s not intentional the first 5 times#UFCAtlanticCity pic.twitter.com/lQaCx1jqHH
— MMA Sharke (@mmaSharke19) March 31, 2024
“The referee was bizarre,” Silva said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “He f—ed up, and then f—ed up on top of that. The least they could do is a no-contest. No way. He put his finger inside my eye!”
“We think it’s hard for Chris Weidman to accept a rematch, but the no-contest would be fair. Let’s see what the UFC does. I just want things done the right way, the fair way. I went there and fought and you didn’t see any malice from my part.”
Silva still doesn’t understand why the fight wasn’t ruled a no contest.
“I thought they were going to rule it a no contest,” he said. “But then he said it was a unanimous win. I didn’t understand it. He poked me in the eye in the second round, poked me in the third, and it’s still an unanimous decision win for him?”
While Silva didn’t say Weidman poked him on purpose, he did accuse “The All American” of fighting with his fingers outstretched, which is against the rules on its own.
“Chris Weidman acted in bad faith,” Silva claimed. “It’s said [by the referee] at the locker room that you can’t fight with your fingers pointing straight, it should be either up or with your hands closed. He spent the entire fight with his fingers pointing at my face, and still celebrated as if he had knocked me out.”
Silva may have a hard time winning his case. He’ll have to go through the New Jersey commission, which is … exactly the people who handled the decision to Weidman on fight night. The chances of them deciding to overrule their call (which in itself was already overruling their initial call) is low.
Which is too bad, because Bruno Silva definitely got done dirty in that fight.
Hear what Weidman had to say after his win over Bruno Silva was changed from a TKO to a technical decision over a double eyepoke in the final moments.
Chris Weidman earned his first win in nearly four years on Saturday night at UFC Atlantic City. It wasn’t pretty, and it was definitely controversial, but for now his victory over Bruno Silva stands as a unanimous technical decision win for “The All American” (watch the highlights here).
The big debate surrounding the fight hinges on a number of eye pokes, including a rare double-poke that sent Weidman’s opponent Bruno Silva to the canvas where Chris finished the fight with ground and pound. What was originally a TKO win would be reviewed and changed to a 30-27 technical decision for Weidman after the replay showed Silva taking a finger to each eye.
To Weidman, the pokes were unintentional and Silva’s decision to collapse was the deciding fact of the matter.
“I’ll never question a guy if he’s saying he got poked in the eye,” he said during the UFC Atlantic City post-fight press conference. “But you can’t just drop every time you feel something is touching your eyeball.”
“He poked me in the eye one time and I stood there and took it,” Weidman added. “Unless the ref is going to say something, I don’t drop. I come from a wrestling background, and it’s a similar thing, you can’t look for the referee to help you. Sometimes they’re going to be against you, and you always have to be ready to defend yourself at all times.”
“He dropped again. I don’t know if he was looking for a way out, but you can’t just turn your back and fall to the ground every time your eye feels poked.”
The Weidman win was just one fight out of several that featured some sort of controversy. To Chris, it’s just part of the sport.
“Did I want to poke him in the eye? No, I’m unhappy that I poked him in the eye,” Weidman said. “But when you’re fighting with these small gloves, they kind of just happen … It’s just unintentional crap that happens when you have small gloves on and you’ve got fingers extended in gloves. It’s unfortunate. Obviously, I’d rather a TKO, but I get it. I won all three rounds so I’ll take it.”
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